Stance chooses London for first store outside the US

American apparel brand Stance has chosen London as the location of its first bricks-and-mortar store outside of the US.

The “premium basic” brand, which currently operates from 10 stores in the US as well as a global ecommerce presence, will take up 2004sq ft unit spanning two floors at 3 Neal Street, Covent Garden.

The store is expected to open in early-November.

The ground floor will be utilised for retail purposes while the basement level will be transformed into a gallery and event space due to open early in 2019.

Meanwhile, the store will be designed by an in-house team with artwork created by global athletes.

Stance will also use London to showcase its range of products including socks, underwear and the launch of their duel-gender t-shirt range.

Founded in California, Stance has amassed over 1.5 million followers on Instagram, and s represented by 50 household names, including contributing creative director Rihanna and English Rugby star Billy Vunipola.

“The UK is the obvious next step for us and we can’t wait to bring our retail experience to loyal customers there and introduce the brand to new ones,” Stance executive vice president of retail Paul Zaengle said.

“With 44 million visitors to Covent Garden each year, Neal Street is the ideal location for Stance’s debut international location and we can’t wait to plant deeper roots on English soil.”

The announcement of Stance follows a string of recent leasing activity for The Mercers’ Company, which operates much of the property around the Long Acre precinct.